Process of decorating articles



Oct. 1, 1935. K. ElcHsTADT PROCESS OF DECORATING ARTICLES Filed Aug. 24,1933 Jnven/ar Patented Oct. 1, 1935 PATENT OFFICE 2,015,664 PROCESS orDECORATING ARTIQLES 7 Karl Eichstiidt, Berlin-Oharlottenburg, Germany,

asslgnor to Oxford Varnish Corporation, De-

troit, Mich.

Application August 24, 1933, Serial No. 686,538

vIn Germany August 26, 1932 1 Claim. (01. 41-26) My invention relates toa decorated article and to a process of decorating, and, moreparticularly, applying a decorating surface finish to, articles.

The object of my invention is an economic and simple process ofdecorating articles eliminating the artists work in designing thedecoration and I attain this object by using patterns offered by natureitself. It is well known that microscopy reveals patterns ofextraordinary beauty occurring in the surface structure of materialswhich occur naturally or may be produced artificially. Such patterns areformed for instance by materials of crystalline structure or iii theanimated world, particularly in the maritime.

life. A well known example are corals.

I have found that a beautiful surface finish" the beautiful patternsproduced by nature itself will gain a highly artistic value; 30 I mayuse the printing form for printing either directly on the surface to befinished or on transfer pictures which are later applied to the articleby decalcomania.

Any one of the known printing processes may 35 be employed, for instancetypography, the offset process or the intaglio printing process. Iprefer, however, to use the photomechanical intaglio process as itpermits the reproduction of the whole scale of tints from the originalphotograph 40 in a single operation, a rubber roller being employed in aknown manner to transfer the pattern from the printing plate to thesurface to be finished. Multl-color printing processes may also beemployed. In this event I prefer to use 5 transfer pictures.

The surface to be decorated may either be directly printed upon from theprinting form or may be first provided with a coat of varnish,

paint or priming. The printed pattern may be.

50 protected by a coat of varnish which may be tinted, if desired, andmay be applied by the ordinary process of baking or spraying. Theprotective coat may be ground or polished in a sub-' I sequentoperation, if desired. 55 A preferred embodiment of my invention isshown in the accompanying drawing representing a cigarette box providedwith a pattern microscopically derived from the structure of damascenesteel.

In producing this article I proceed as follows: 5 A piece of damascenesteel is ground to produce the plane and even surface. This surface isetched with a suitable agent, for instance the following solution:

500 cu. cm. water; 500 cu. cm. alcohol; .5 gram 10 SnClz; 1 gram CllCh;30 grams FeCla; 50'cu. cm. hydrochloric acid.

A michophotographic picture is then taken of the etched surface at thescale of 500:1. From the negative photograph so obtained a diapositive15 is made and this diapositive is used to produce an intaglio printingplate by the well-known photomechanical process.- As the details of thisprocess are well known in the art, a detailed description thereof may bedispensed with. Briefly, the process comprises the following steps:

A chromate gelatine plate is first exposed through a screen of about 175lines per inch and is then exposedthrough the diapositive of thepattern. The gelatine layer so exposed is transferred to a copper plateand, carried by this copper plate, is developed in diluted alcohol todissolve the unexposed portions of the chromate gelatine. After thedevelopmenthas been completed, the copper plate is brought into aferrichloride solution which penetrates through thegelatine layer andetches the coppersurface more or less depending on the thickness of thegelatine layer. Preferably, the etching process is performed in threesuccessive steps, first with a well diluted solution of ferrichlorideand then with a gradually stronger solution. In this manner,- a printingplate is obtained showing the pattern in ink is scraped off in a knownmanner with a doctor blade. Inks of any suitable color and any suitablecomposition may be used for this purpose. As inks of this character arewell known in the art, it does not seem necessary to cite specificcompositions. Afterthis step, a rubber roller is rolled overthe printingform in order 5 a protective coat .of clear nitrocellulose varnish whichis preferably applied by spraying and is subsequently polished in aknown manner.

What I claim is: The process of decorating materials compris- 10 ingcoating the article to be treated with a priming coat, grinding saidpriming coat to produce a smooth andcplanular surface,microphotographically forming a print of the surface of a crystallinematerial, photomechanically producing a printing plate with a printingimage corresponding to the microphotograph, applying such image to thearticle to be'decorated with a. printing medium, applying a transparentprotective coat to such article to preserve the image so obtained.

' KARL EICHSTADT.

